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My SIL first made this soup for our Halloween dinner several years ago. We immediately fell in love with it, and it has become part our traditional Halloween meal.

If serving to kids, you may want to reduce or omit the cayenne, since they will most likely find it too spicy. The original recipe called for twice as much cayenne as I’ve listed here, but it was too spicy for this mild girl’s taste. You can adjust to your on taste.

The original recipe called for a finely chopped onion, but I didn’t like having the onion chunks floating in my bowl. Instead, I prefer the onion to be pureed after it’s been softened. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can use a food processor or blender. Just be sure to add a little of the veggie stock to the onions to help them puree more easily, and NEVER add hot liquids to your blender or you can plan to take cover from the imminent explosion.

This is another Fall favorite in our home. My SIL, Becky, shared this recipe with our family a couple years ago, and I’ve made lots of loaves ever since. Becky and others in the family like to add chocolate chips, which is yummy, but I prefer if plain.

P.S. The baked loaves freeze well.

Confession: I’ve been known to eat an entire loaf by myself. I’m not ashamed!

Quotables

We may live without poetry, music and art;
We may live without conscience, and live without
heart;
We may live without friends; we may live without
books;
But civilized man cannot live without cooks.
-Owen Meredith